Abstracts - Earli

Teaching characteristics as moderating variables for the relationship between motivationalemotionalcomponents and meta-cognitive strategiesKatharina Maag Merki, University of Education, Freiburg, GermanyMarkus Wirtz, University of Education, Freiburg, GermanyThe competence of self-regulated learning is an important cross-curricular educational goal withinschool curricula and supports the acquisition of domain specific competences. Although differenttheoretical models are known, no comprehensive model exists, which have been validatedempirically by means of structural analysis. The present study strived a) to formulate aconfirmatory factor analytical model, which defines meta-cognitive learning strategies as well asemotional-motivational regulatory strategies as latent constructs. b) Theoretically derivedassociations between these components were defined and an according structural equation modelwas developed, which allows for the estimation of direct and indirect effects between its latentconstructs. c) It was investigated, whether the properties of the structural model vary depending onschool characteristics. Thus, multi-group analyses were conducted using median dichotomized‘Teachers capacity of motivating pupils’ and ‘Elaboration’ as moderators. Empirical data are takenfrom a study sample of N = 1428 grammar school pupils in Switzerland, who completed astandardized questionnaire in classes. The results showed, that the structural equation modelallows for an appropriate prediction of empirical associations in the whole study sample.‘Volition’ and ‘persistence’ act as mediating variables within the postulated causal structure for allthree meta-cognitive strategies. Significant difference for the path coefficients exist in dependenceof ‘Teachers capacity of motivating pupils’ as well as for ‘Elaboration’. In summary, these resultsshow, that meta-cognitive strategies can be predicted satisfactorily by emotional and motivationalcomponents. Additionally, teaching characteristics should be considered in order to allow for amore differentiated understanding of causal processes. Thus, the results of our study may enhancethe knowledge on how to arrange school contexts in order to improve the competence of selfregulatedlearning.The impact of the school on student achievement, academic self-concept and their interrelationBieke De Fraine, Centre for Educational Effectiveness and Evaluatio, BelgiumJan Van Damme, CEEE K.U.Leuven, BelgiumEducational researchers have been challenged to investigate the effect of the school environmenton students. The present study extends the existing knowledge on school effects by investigatingtwo student outcomes longitudinally: language achievement and academic self-concept. Theinterrelation between the two outcomes is described by the reciprocal effects models which actedas the theoretical framework of the study. Data were gathered through repeated assessment of 2826students in 50 secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. These longitudinal data were analysed by amultivariate multilevel growth curve model. The inclusion of a school level in the model makes itpossible to estimate the impact of the school on (1) achievement and academic self-concept; (2)the changes in these two outcomes; (3) the interrelation between the two outcomes. It was foundthat schools account for about 54% of the variance in language achievement and only about 8% ofthe variance in academic self-concept. The school also has a larger impact on the changes inlanguage achievement (31% for girls and 55% for boys) than on the changes in academic selfconcept(15% for girls and 5% for boys). Furthermore, the results suggested that the changes inacademic self-concept were not related to the changes in achievement, neither at the individual,nor at the school level. There is, however, a positive relation between academic self-concept andachievement, both at the school level and the individual level. The positive correlation at theschool level is an indication of consistency of school effects. Schools that are effective for– 818 –